captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> ifill: in a surprise move, the supreme court decides not to take up gay marriage. clearing the way for same-sex couples to wed in at least five more states. good evening, i'm gwen ifill. judy woodruff is away. also ahead this monday, the fifth american stricken with ebola lands in the u.s as the first patient diagnosed here fights for his life. plus, high school football under the spotlight. after three young players die within a single week, we talk to players and coaches.

>> i do know that when you go out there and you suit up, every time you suit up could be your last time. i say, yeah, i know that, but i say, its not something you think about and even when you do think about it, you dismiss it because those types of thoughts make you second guess yourself. >> ifill: those are some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives.

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: the supreme court opened for business today and immediately ruled out a major decision on gay marriage. instead, without comment, the justices refused to hear cases from five states. within hours, same-sex weddings were under way in virginia, with the path now clear for ceremonies to begin in the other states as well. >> i declare you married. >> ifill: for gay couples in utah, who married in a 17-day window of legality last december, the high court's move

came as a happy surprise. >> it means my marriage is going to be legal and my second parent adoption for my son can go through. i think what it also means is it will be very difficult to put the toothpaste back in the tube if anybody decides to try to deny rights which they shouldn't under the constitution. >> ifill: the court's action immediately allowed weddings in five states-- virginia, indiana, wisconsin, oklahoma and utah. all had appealed lower court rulings against gay marriage bans. six other states are bound by those same rulings, and couples there will ultimately be able to marry as well. they'll join 19 other states and the district of columbia where gay marriage is already legal. utah governor gary herbert said today he's still opposed, but the fight is essentially is over. >> i do personally believe it is a state right issue. i believe that in the past and believe it today.

but people have different points of view and opinions. but right now it's a matter of standing down so there's no more expense. the road to legalizing gay marriage has been a long one, from civil unions to actual marriages, starting in massachusetts in 2004. that evolution came amid a sea- change in public opinion. polling in 1996 showed an upward tick in support for same-sex marriage, and for the past four years it's been over 50 percent. two years ago, president obama weighed in. >> at a certain point, i've just concluded that-- for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. and last year, gay rights advocates celebrated as the supreme court struck down part of the federal defense of marriage act.

we'll get a full analysis of the impact of today's supreme court action, including voices on either side of the gay marriage question right after the news summary. in other news, three neuroscientists will share this year's nobel prize for medicine for work that could lead to advances in diagnosing alzheimer's disease. british-american john o'keefe and two norwegians, edvard and may-britt moser, discovered a kind of inner g.p.s. system that helps humans orient themselves. edvard moser spoke today in germany, where he was traveling. >> we are just trying to figure out how the brain works and that is extremely important on a more long term prospective because if you find the basic principles that control how the brain operates, we will be able to, in the long term, to treat every kind, all kinds of neurological and psychiatric diseases. >> ifill: the three nobel laureates will share the prize of about $1.1 million. in syria, islamic state forces

pressed even closer to a key kurdish town near the turkish border. fighting raged around kobani all through the weekend, with the militants blasting away with artillery and mortars. today, plumes of smoke rose from shell hits, and black islamic state flags appeared on hilltops and buildings on the eastern side of the town. kurdish forces said they still hold the city's center. the protests that grid-locked downtown hong kong appeared to wane today, and the city returned to work. pro-democracy demonstrators numbered only a few hundred. and, they'd pulled back barricades blocking the main business district. in a televised statement today, hong kong leader leung chun- ying, urged the remaining protesters to go home. >> ( translated ): there are lots of teenagers and students with passion who love hong kong who are taking part in various gatherings. however, some of them are aggressive and use violence. the police will firmly take enforcement action against those who use violence.

talks have begun between the government and activists, but some protest leaders are vowing to stand their ground until demands for fully free elections are met. a presidential run-off campaign kicked off today in brazil, where latin america's largest economy has been stagnating. leftist incumbent dilma rousseff is seeking a second term. she won 42% in sunday's first round. challenger aecio neves is a pro- business candidate who surged late in the campaign, and won 34%. struggling tech giant hewlett- packard confirmed today, it plans to split into two companies. h.p. will separate its computer and printer businesses into one, while the other focuses on technology services, including data storage and software. like other p.c. makers, h.p. has labored to keep pace as customers shift to smart phones and tablets, and away from desk and laptops. wall street started the week on a down note, amid uncertainty about interest rates. the dow jones industrial average lost more than 17 points to close below 16,992; the nasdaq fell more than 20 points to

close at 4,454; and the s&p 500 shed three, to finish at 1,964. and a death of note in the entertainment world. dancer, actor and choreographer geoffrey holder passed away sunday in new york. at six-six, he cut a striking figure on stage and screen. in 1975, he won tony awards for directing and designing the costumes for "the wiz," an all- black update of "the wizard of oz". he also played a james bond villain in "live and let die." along the way, a tv commercial gave him an even higher profile. >> for an equal refreshment, the u.n.'s the one. 7-up, the uncola. ahh... >> ifill: geoffrey holder was 84-years-old. still to come on the newshour. is it a new day for same-sex marriage in america? a spotlight on efforts to contain ebola at home and abroad. when head injuries turn deadly

in high school football. a best-selling author on bringing magic to life. and remembering lady bird johnson's historic whistle-stop tour through the south. >> ifill: we return now to the supreme court's decision not to take up same-sex marriage. with marcia coyle of the national law journal. good day today at the court. >> very interesting, gwen. >> ifill: was it a surprise to you? >> yes, conventional wisdom from, quote, scholars, litigators, said the court was ready, it was going to take one of the cases it had pending. we don't really know why they didn't. when a court issues a decision not to hear a case as today, it generally doesn't comment unless there's a december sent from that decision. so we don't know what went on in the minds of the justices, and

we're also told with these kinds of decisions not to read too much into them. but that didn't stop speculation today. >> ifill: does it settle or unsettle things? >> there are speculation as to why the judges did what they did. i think there are two schools of thought. first, the three appellate courts that have ruled thus far have struck down bans states enacted. justice ginsburg suggested this summer the court may want to tila tequila there's a ruling upholding the state ban creating a split among the circuits and giving the justices benefits of full reasoning on both decisions. we're waiting for rules out of the sixth circuit which may very well provide that conflict. and in the second score may be a little more strategic inside the court and goes back to the 2013 ruling when a 5-4 court struck down the definition of marriage in the defense of marriage act.

the four were the most conservative members. it may be when they went into conference on the new petitions of same-sex marriage that those four did not see a sixth vote to go their way to uphold state's rights. >> ifill: wouldn't it just have taken one of them? >> yes, but they have to look down the road. if they grant review, what's the point if they can't get the vote for the majority and might instead take a case that could result in a broad national ruin that they don't want. >> ifill: in the 4t 4th circuit, virginia, indiana and wisconsin, we already saw some marriages begin today in. >> the 4th circuit, you're right, it is virginia, but also covers north carolina, west virginia and maryland. maryland already has legal same-sex marriages. almost immediately after the decision not to hear the case, the 4th circuit, the federal

appellate court, lifted -- issued its mandate, its decision marriages could go forward. we also saw motions made for the north carolina and west virginia cases to allow same-sex marriages to go forward. we're seeing the same thing happen in the tenth circuit which had only two states before it at the time, utah and oklahoma. the other states that are within the tenth circuit, as well as the states that are within the seventh circuit that ruled in indiana and wisconsin, those federal courts are bound by the decisions of the federal appellate courts so we can probably see same-sex marriages go forward in those states as well. that's how we get from the five states the courts dealt with today, the supreme court, to the 11 states that are likely to allow smearnls going forward. >> ifill: added to that 19

more states who haven't been challenged and they're talking about a majority of the states and district of column. >> 30 states and the district of columbia. >> ifill: we resist ading too much of the tea leaves here but i wonder if you see signs based on your understanding of the way the court operates between what we saw last year of the defense of marriage act and their stepping away at least for now of these cases that the court is, i don't know, paying attention to the popular opinion? >> it may well be that it sees the trend in the lower federal courts that these bans are falling and doesn't see any urgency right now to step in, allow more states to deal with the -- more federal courts and states to deal with the issue. there are cases still coming up that we will probably see at the supreme court and, at that point, we'll have to see what the court does. it may be ready or may not to step in again. >> ifill: always potential for prize. marcia coyle, thank you very

much. >> ifill: we turn now to advocates on both sides of the issue. evan wolfson, president of the gay rights group freedom to marry, joins us from new york. and, austin nimocks is senior counsel for the center for marriage and family with the alliance defending freedom and he joins us in studio. well come to you both. evan wolfson, is this a watershed moment in a good way? >> it is unquestionably a watershed moment for the country. already, couples are getting married in five more states, actually six with colorado following the lead. as marcia just said, we now have brought the freedom to marry effectively to 30 states, covering 60% of th the american people living in a state with the 23r50e78 to marry. it's a signal to the lower courts and other courts and states saying there is no reason for denying the freedom to marry any longer and they should move forward. at the same time, though a glass

50% full is better than the alternative, 20 states, people are being discriminated against, still harmed and it's time for the country to come together in national resolution for the freedom to marry. >> ifill: first, austin nimocks, what we heard today, i still believe what i believe but it's not worth defending this anymore. >> there are still 20 states out there, litigation across the country, four federal circuits not chimed, in the fifth, sixth eighth and eleventh. so we're a long way from having any form of national resolution on this question. americans are going to continue to debate this regardless of what the supreme court does or does not do and if we are going to step forward as a nation, i think it's important that this question be answered by americans and not be impose bid judicial fiat. that's the most important thing about today's decision is we have judges making decisions on questions americans are

perfectly capable of answering. >> ifill: would you have felt it if the court had ruled the other way? >> absolutely because the court would be reviewing cases where federal courts had imposed their will against the will of the people, and the people are mature enough and understand enough to debate questions about marriage and make decisions. do we not care about mothers and fathers. >> the american people have indeed been talking about who gay couples are and why marriage matters and the love and commitment in these families, and have come out in favor to have the freedom to marry. 59% of the american people support freedom to marry. we did a poll last week in utah, the reddest of red states and showed a plurality, 49%, favoring freedom to marry. the courts are following where the people are, but we have a constitution that says knot

everything should be put up to a vote, and it matters to couples who are being denied day to day. they don't have time to wait for some unanimous vote of everybody to treat them the same under the one constitution that protects all of us. >> ifill: there are other shoes to drop, is that what you're counting on? >> yes, there's lot left to happen. you have the four circuits in 20 states continuing to debate the issue and litigate it in the courts. there are federal courts that have ruled in favor of marriage, the eighth circuit ruled in favor of marriage, a louisiana judge ruled in feafer of marriage. we've courts in tennessee and mississippi rule in favor of marriage. >> ifill: does it feel at all like there's a sense of inevitability kicking in here? >> the only thing inevitable, the supreme court can't settle this issue any more than the question of abortion.

if the supreme court wants to drop a shoe and say we're going to impose same-sex marriage in all 50 states, the american people can choose to accept it or not in the same way they've chosen to reject the ro roe v. wade decision. we don't need courts to impose its will against the people or take it away from the people. if the people want to change marriage laws, let them change marriage laws like they've done legitimately in other states. we don't need federal judges doing this. >> ifill: you're the one who brought up the question of it i. is this the way of moving forward? >> absolutely not. we live under one constitution, all are individuals and have the same freedoms of rights and protections and same aspirations of love and commitment and building a life together and marriages should not sputter in and out like cell phone service depending on what state people happen to be in. we're one country with one

constitution and the reason we have courts is sometimes when there is discrimination, sometimes when the politicians get it wrong, we have courts and a constitution to guarantee those freedoms. but you know something, this is a happy moment where what the courts are doing is catching up to where the country is. we talked about a handful of judges who went the other way. there are more than 40 state and feral courts that have looked at this question, now including the u.s. supreme court, and said there is no good reason to continue this -- >> ifill: let me ask about the u.s. supreme court. does a ruling or non-ruling like today affect the legacy of the court? >> it's a good question. as marcia said, this is far from over with. the supreme court stepping away from the first wave of cases doesn't mean it will step away from the second or third wave of

cases. it's a little early to see what the court's legacy is. we're hopeful the court's legacy on this question will be one of restoring the questiono the american people. if they want to vote on same-sex marriage, let them vote on same-sex marriage the way they've done in several states. if they want to maintain marriage one man, one woman, let them do that. different states differing is the most american thing we can have in this country. states differ on important legal questions all the time. that's what makes america great. >> ifill: roberts legacy piece, evan wolfson. >> what makes america great is we have a constitution that protects liberty and justice for all and treats us equally and guarantees the equality, and doesn't put it up to a vote. we have basic freedoms and that's why we have a constitution. fortunately, we also have hearts and minds that when people listen to the real stories of real families and look at their love and look at the joy that's spilling out now in utah and oklahoma and the other states

we've won today and they see families helped and no one hurt, the american people like the courts affirming the freedom too marry and i think it will be in the roberts courts to put their stamp on the movement in the country in the same way the supreme court having ducked the frame of marriage, embraced it. whethewe'll keep working till wg the freedom to marry nationwide. >> ifill: evan wolfson, freedom to marry and austin nimocks with the center for marriage and family with the alliance defending freedom. thank you. >> thank you. >> ifill: president obama spent part of this day focusing again on the government's response to

the ebola outbreak in africa. he said his administration was working on additional measures to adjust the way airplane passengers are screened. jeffrey brown has more on this day's developments. >> brown: it was the latest bid to reassure an anxious public the president meeting with top national security and health advisers. >> here in the united states at least, the chances of an outbreak of an epidemic here are extraordinarily low, but let's keep in mind that, as we speak, there are children on the streets dying of this disease, thousands of them. >> brown: the president said he'll pressure other large nations to step up and help west african countries now struggling to control the outbreak. the meeting came hours after an infected journalist arrived in omaha, nebraska for treatment. ashoka mukpo fell ill last week while freelancing for nbc news in liberia.

in dallas, the first person diagnosed with ebola inside the u.s. remained in critical condition. texas health presbyterian hospital said thomas eric duncan, of liberia, is now receiving an experimental drug. and in austin, governor rick perry called for stricter measures to keep ebola out of the u.s. >> customs officials and border patrol agents at all points of entry should immediately be directed to conduct enhanced screening procedures, obtaining more information about people who are coming from affected areas, taking appropriate steps upon arrival. those steps may be something as simple as taking their temperature. >> brown: hospitals nationwide are now on alert, but so far, no other cases have turned up. in spain, however, officials announced a nurse in madrid caught ebola from a priest who got sick in sierra leone and was flown home. it's the first case in which the virus was transmitted from person to person outside west africa.

for all of the assurances provided, there have been continuing questions about the way hospitals and the system will respond in the u.s. doctor anthony fauci of the national institutes of health is one of the government's top point people on ebola. i spoke with him a short time ago. welcome again, dr. fauci, one issue officials are now grappling with is better screening of travelers both leaving the affected areas and entering this country. what can you tell us about that? well, officials are looking now at the possibility of what we call entry screening. right now, currently, if you are in a west african country and go to an airport to try to get on a plane to go anywhere including the united states, you get your temperature taken and you get a questionnaire about how you feel and your possibly exposures. what's being considered now is that, should there be more on the other end, on the rival end? should -- on the arrival end? should there be an additional area of screening? that is open for discussion about what the pros and cons of the added extra effort and investment to do an entry-type

screening. that certainly was one of the items on the agenda of discussion at the white house. >> brown: after what happened in dallas, are you more confident now that protocols are in place at hospitals around the country to detect and respond to any potential new cases? >> i am, jeff. i'm fairly certain that is going to happen. the c.d.c., for some time now, has been giving out these health alert networks which are instructions about what to do or should do if someone comes in with symptoms compatible with ebola that you should ask a travel history and act accordingly if you get certain types of information. i think of all the publicity of what went on when there was the misstep in dallas about losing the two days when the person first came to the emergency room. i think any emergency room physician or clinic now is very much aware of making sure they ask the right questions. >> brown: what about proo

tebting healthcare workers themselves in now we have this news out of appears to have happened in madrid with a nurse getting ebola from someone brought to a hospital, i gather. are you concerned or more optimistic about the protocols here in this country? >> i am. i know if the protocols are followed carefully, we have extensive experience from doctors without borders, they have protocol they follow and it's rare anyone get infected. it's unfortunate the spanish nurse got infected from the spanish priest taken from west africa to spain. but that happens. sometimes there's a breech in period oprotocol. hopefully that would be a rare event. >> brown: also news out of dallas with thomas eric duncan, being cared for there, he's now being given an experimental drug. what do you know about that?

>> the experimental drug mr. duncan is receiving is a type of an ano log of a drug which has been used in another kind of viral infection. it is still in the experimental stage with regard to ebola, but it has been given in other situations. so hopefully there will be some activity, we don't know yet because it's still experimental. >> brown: but the drug we heard about earlier, zmapp, apparently no more of that. now we've heard of another experimental drug. is there nor in the pipeline because of what's going on? >> there are several drugs in the pipeline, there's an inhibitory molecule there's a drugs bcx4430 which is a molecule, a drug that blocks the building blocks of the genetic makeup of the virus. so there are several that are at the experimental stage. the drug mr. duncan got was one

of those in the experimental stage. >> brown: in the last minute, i want to ask you about the enterovirus now confirmed in 43 states and over 500 cases. now we have the 4-year-old new jersey pre-schooler, the first confirmed death from the virus. what's interesting is that, apparently, he died -- he went to sleep without any symptoms and died that night. now, is that a surprise? what do you know about this? >> well, that's unusual, jeff, if someone gets a viral illness who feels perfectly well and just dies in their sleep. kit happen. it can be really acute respiratory distress. i don't know the case personally, but i've certain seen cases where a child can feel reasonably well and get acute respiratory distress and die. the fact that he died in his sleep is a different story.

of course, that could be another mechanism. but getting back to the enterovirus ev48, over 500 cases, 49 -- 590 at last count,t can be a serious disease for children with asthma or other symptoms. that recently report death adds to the reality this is a serious situation. >> brown: thanks as always. good to be with you. >> brown: for all of the recent attention on the ebola cases in the u.s., the toll in west africa continues to rise, with more than 3,400 people already dead. jerome delay of the associated press has been chronicling the outbreak in liberia for the past two weeks. he's now in paris and i spoke with him by skype a short time ago. you wrote in a blog report that people in liberia are facing a

kind of war, but one in which they can't see the enemy. explain what you mean? how is that playing out in homes and on streets? well, the thing is, you know, in the piece i wrote for the ap, the biggest dangerous in the war zone is an enemy you can't see. in monrovia, stricken by the ebola virus, you cannot see the enemy, the virus, per se, you just see what it does to people and the destruction, you know, that is happening all around it. and in that sense, it is, i think, a very, very dangerous thing to cover, but, also, it is the thing that is, you know, very difficult to control. >> brown: i know you were trying to look at survivors, at families of victims, and the issue of stigma is still there. tell us what you saw. >> well, i saw people were actually surviving from the

virus. i'll give you an example of julius, who was a nurse and who actually treated people who were suffering from the virus and got the virus himself and gave himself some i.v.s for a few days until he was admitted into the clinic, and he survived and is now a recovering -- not even recovering, now he's a survivor of ebola, which allows him to work and help other people the same way he was helped by some people to, you know -- against the virus. the main thing i want to say, though, we spend a lot of time chasing ambulances, and there's a lot of people there who need equipment and material. you have just a few ambulances in monrovia and when they go and ask for protective suits and equipment, all they get is a pair of gloves and a pair of

boots and that makes their work difficult and extremely dangerous. >> brown: so you're not seeing enough resources on the ground. i know you've covered a lot of things in africa. how does this compare in terms of what you do see? >> what you do see, in terms of resources, yes, they're doing a tremendous job with the assets they have to try to stop the virus. but one simple farm, -- exampli went out with a crew and they had an assignment to pick up 15 potential victims. they went to the ministry of health to get gear, boots and so forth. they were given three pairs of gloves and one pair of boots. they had to beg at other places to locate the proper gear to do the job safely. these are people who are dedicated and working hard to try to stop the spreading of the disease, but if you don't give them the means to do it

properly, we have a big problem. >> brown: jerome delay of the associated press. thank you so much. >> you're well come. >> ifill: as the fall football season heats up, the friday night lights dimmed somewhat last week with news that three young players died from injuries sustained on the field. tom cutinella, a 16-year-old, collapsed following a blocking collision during a game in ellwood, new york. 17-year-old demario harris jr, was pronounced dead three days after collapsing during a game. he's believed to have suffered a brain aneurysm shortly after making a tackle. that same night, 17-year-old isaiah langston collapsed during a warm-up before playing for rolesville high school in north carolina. our student reporting labs train young people in public media journalism. they went to the football team at t.c. williams high school in virginia, which happens to include a female kicker, for reaction.

i like contact. i love hitting. >> i love hitting. that's what makes football great. >> i like the contact. that's what it is. >> when i had that first contact with someone, i felt like i had enough power to do what i want. >> when i did kickoff last year, i obviously knew that i could be tackled. when it actually happened one time, i was completely shocked because i didn't know what it was really going to feel like. >> coaches we, talk about this in our meetings and sometimes we've neglected it in the past, but because of the three deaths, we need to be careful. with all the safety now, we want to have fun but we want to make it safe. we want you to play hard, hit hard, go after your opponent, tackle, knock him to the ground if you block him, but we want to be safe about it. we're not saying "kill the other player" because that's not appropriate. fortunately, i never worked with

a kid who died. those things are tragic. i work with kids every day, and i really don't know how i would react to one of my players getting hit and dying from an injury related to the sport that has been a part of my whole life. >> it will definitely bring wareness to re every team across the nation. >> my mother told me about a did she heerd of. she said, you know when you suit up, every time could be your last time. i said, i know that but it's not something you think about and when you do any about it you dismiss it because those type of thoughts make you second guess yourself. >> we hear about it from the pros in the n.f.l. what we hear a lot of pro players say is we knew what we were getting into when we started playing football. that the one of the things you have to consider when you play football. >> my mom thinks twice about signing the paper when she has

to. she won't sign it unless i keep my grades up. >> you can go to a doctor and get cleared from a concussion and walk home and die from it. we know who got released, they show up at practice but they get headaches and dizziness and throw up two days after they have been cleared to play. i would not want to be an athletic trainer. coaching football is hard enough, being your trainer is much harder than being a football coach. >> it's usually pretty clear, to be honest, at the first sign of symptoms. if it's not one of those situations, we'll reelf way. we make sure the parents know what to look for. we have numerous eyes helping us to determine if it's something we need to be worried about and treat it as a concussion. >> when i first came, i did know

know how to tackle. if i hadn't been in that position, i wouldn't have known what to do. they take time to show each one of us how to tackle so we don't injure ourselves. like, heads up, things like that. that's definitely something every player should know even if you're playing pee-wee or are in college, that's something you should go over. >> i personally would like to see full contact starting later because of the higher risk of younger kids having head impact and showing later on in life it's taking a toll on their brain health in general, and i think we may need to start getting the football players working on technique as opposed to full contact stipulations. >> putting stipulations on the game will make it harder. it won't have the freedom the game had. even though it causes long-term

injuries, in the moment, we're not thinking about that. there's a point where you've got to let people live a little bit. we know what we're doing when co-come out here. we signed emergency contact forms. we signed all that. we know what could happen. so while i'm out here, let me do what i do. >> ifill: we turn to a >> ifill: for more on the risks to young athletes, we turn to steven broglio, he's associate professor and director of the neurosport research laboratory at the university of michigan, and a leading voice for the national athletic trainers' association about the management of concussions. do we think these students are more vulnerable than what we see with the n.f.l. or the ncaa? >> the first thing we look at is the epidemiology data that the concussion rate at n.f.l., college and high school level is about the same. so the same percentage of athletes will have an injury at those levels. what will differ is the number of athletes that participate in the sports each year. for the professional level, we

have about 1500 to play, 40,000 at the college level, about 1.2 million high school skids that play football. >> ifill: they're younger, they're under somebody else's guardianship, so that's a cause for extra concern. how does one lessen the risk to these young people? >> it comes down to good fundamentals, good coaching technique, heads-up football, educating the athletes as to the signs and symptoms of concussions. you will never reduce or eliminate concussions from the game, but we can reduce them. when they happen, we report those to a coach or athletic trainer if available at the practice at the game. >> ifill: the young players say, this is what happens. they speak pratedly of having their bell rung. is this a culture of playing hurt? >> i think it was a culture of playing hurt. certainly, we've seen things

start to change. we've seen a time ten or 15 years ago where there's a big emphasis on pushing through the injury and playing, but i think the increased attention through research and media awareness, people are trying to understand the jish better. athletes are reporting the injury more often, taking it seriously, seeking medical attention and getting treatment as needed. >> ifill: how do we know that the deaths we heard about last week or the incidents we heard about on the field are all related to play and how much of it are things that can be screened for like cardiac problems in advance, for instance? >> i'm not familiar with any of the cases that were talked about. there are certain things that can be screened for. there are certain cardiac issues that can be. there are certain brain issues that can be screened for. i believe one case might be related to an aneurysm. the question is the cost of the screenings versus the associated risk that it might happen. aneurysms in youth are

incredibly rare, and, so, the idea of screening the entire population may be cost prohibitive. >> ncaa has a mandatory reporting rule. do high schools? >> every state in the country has a law on concussions that the athlete should be reporting an injury to an athletic trainer if available or coach or other medical professional if available. >> ifill: and what do parents do? what do parents say in this situation? we heard the young man say his mother reluctantly signs the becamer when he brings it to her. should parents be thinking maybe this is a bad idea, football? >> i don't think so. i think the benefits that young people get from participating in sports, whether football or soccer or anything, far outweigh the risks that they might have or incur with a concussion. one concussion that's well-managed, we have no evidence that suggests long-term problems in 20 years or 30

years, but we know there are plenty of risks associated with not participating in activity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and all the things that go along with it. that's just the medical side. participation in sports develops work ethic, working as a team, huge benefits to activity and performing sports in school. i think the benefits far outweigh the risks. >> definitely a tradeoff on many, many different levels. steven broglio, director of neurosport research laboratory, thank you for joining us. >> thank you, gwen. >> ifill: next, magical fantasy isn't just for young readers. millions of adults are avid fans of a new twist to the genre. jeffrey brown is back with our book conversation. quintin did a magic trick, nobody noticed. first line of a fantasy tale

called magician trilogy, filled with such books. the magician's land has just been released. david grossman joins us now. well come. >> thank you. >> brown: is it true you wanted to start with classics like narnia and harry potter and play with them and make them into something? >> i love those books. i've always loved them. >> brown: even as a kid? even a as child i loved narnia. and later harry potter. you know, when i was a writer in my 30s, i was still very attached to those books, but also very aware of thousand different my life was then with the characters in the books. i wondered if it would be possible to write a story about young people discovering the power they didn't know they had and finding their way into a

secret world but to write it for adults in contemporary, literary language and trying to kind of use this as a way to talk about the kinds of issues we struggle with as adults. >> brown: what are the main challenges you found in that? they suffer the indignities of adults, right? car payments and -- >> i don't subject them to that, but they have drinking problems, sex lives, they get depressed. the most important thing to me, i didn't want there to be any kind of the debunkular advisor where the wizards would say right off the bat, no, here's the bad guy, go fight him. i felt lost when writing the

books. i wanted to write about people who were lost in that way. i didn't want someone telling them what to do. these characters have to figure it out for themselves. >> brown: there's the whole idea of magic and what that is and what that means, right, and how you make that real enough for an adult audience. >> well, when you learn magic, you, obviously, gain a lot, but you have to give a lot. i didn't want this taught to school children, i wanted it to be a little wilder than that and a little more demanding but more sort of raw. >> brown: did you know where this was going from the beginning? was it conceived as a trilogy with a beginning, middle and end? >> it definitely had a beginning. like i said, i was quite lost when i started writing this book and i i couldn't even look that far ahead. >> brown: explain that because you've talked about being in a

state of depression. >> i struggle with depression and i felt very powerful in myself and by writing a story about a guy who discovers he can do magic, i was trying to my own voice as a writer and a sense of power as a person, because i felt so unmagical and the world felt so unenchanted to me, i had to find my way to a place where i felt like there was a little bit of magic in my life. >> brown: so you draw that direct line between your own depression and the writing of the book? >> i was always struck as a kid when the kids in narnia grow up, they kind of lose magic and narnia when they get interested in adult things, but i felt there must be some magic to being a grown up and it would be rich and weird and complicated, different from the kind of magic you read about in the books but it must be somewhere and i try to create it. >> brown: did you or do you

still worry about not being taken seriously as a writer of this genre? i'm thinking of you in your "time magazine" where you're running in kind of high literary circles in some ways, certainly many of the books you come across and no doubt the authors. >> it's true. fantasy doesn't get the kind of respect literary does. but people are hungry for these stories and love them and are particularly interested, i think, in magic. so when you write fantasy, there's a tiny subculture that is sort of literary new york doesn't care that much, but there are so many millions of people who do. you definitely -- there's no lack of respect out there for fantasy writers. maybe it's not the particular kind, it's not the pulitzer kind. >> brown: i've talkedo a lot of authors and often the subject comes up of the future of the book, the writing and who are

you writing for kind of thing. >> yes. >> brown: you're doing well, so you feel like somebody's out there reading, huh? >> i think this is a great time to be writing and to be reading novels. i think we spent a lot of time in the shadow of modernism, of faulkner and wolf and joyce, c joyce,cafca, the writers with the very difficult plots, and i love these books very much. but i think novelists are rediscovering story telling. they're rediscovering the power of plot and the things genre writers have known for a long time, fiction writers, romance writers, that you can write the stories and they're such powerful ways of expressing yourself. i feel all novelists including literary novelists are coming back to it and makes the novel accessible in a way that's just wonderful. i don't see a down side to it.

>> brown: we'll continue this discussion online, okay? for now, the book is "the ma cigs' land." thank you. >> thank you. >> ifill: finally tonight, president lyndon johnson was not the only member of his family to become a champion of civil rights. lady bird johnson undertook her own campaign to save the law signed 50 years ago. her own whistle stop tour of the south. judy woodruff has that, lesser known, part of the story. i'm proud that i am part of the south. >> woodruff: less than a month before the presidential elections, lady bird johnson boarded a train in washington to step through eight southern states to win back southern

democrats to lyndon johnson camp after the passage of the civil rights about. the president's aides were not sold on the use of such a trip including the director of the johnson presidential library. >> the president's advisors dissuaded lady bird johnson from making a trip through the south because they thought the southern states were a lost cause. lady bird johnson and lyndon johnson that it was important as southerners to state their case to fellow southerners even if they didn't vote for them. >> woodruff: lady bird was joined on the train for part of the trip as the johnson's 20-year-old daughter linda. >> mother wanted the do the whistle stop tour because she wanted the people of the south to know that even if they didn't agree with everything daddy had done and the civil rights bell is one of the things, that we loved the south and we felt -- she felt herself very much a

part of the south because her family had come from alabama. she wanted everybody to know that she wanted their votes and we wanted the south to know that we respected them, and we thought they were worthy of our attention. >> woodruff: over a four-day period, she spoke to crowds that gathered at railroad stations in 37 cities, from virginia to new orleans. >> it was the first if one of the first trips where a first lady campaigned without her husband, and i think that's something to be said. mother did not like public speaking. she took a course to try to conquer her fears because she just felt nervous. >> woodruff: her safety and that of her staff was a constant worry.

>> there were great security concerns along the nearly 1700-mile journey to the south, a number of armed threats and such concern among the secret service that there was a car that preceded the lady bird special so that if there was a bomb on the tracks it would affect the car in front of the lady bird special and not the lady bird special itself. >> woodruff: some towns were not always well coming. >> there were epithets thrown at lady bird johnson throughout the trip, the plaques people held up, some of it said things like black bird go home. (chanting) >> my friends, this is a country of many ideas and i express your right to express your own. now it's my turn to express mine. thank you. >> woodruff: she didn't bait them, she didn't fuss at them,

she didn't rise to their level. she -- but she spoke from her heart. >> woodruff: the half a million people who crowded the station to hear mrs. johnson were not all opposed by any account. >> they also needed to any about all the heroic people from those towns who came out and witnessed, knowing that, on sunday they would be going back to their church and some of their friends would be saying, oh, we were going to come through that little town, or that big town, or wherever, and then we're leaving. but they were going to be there all the time. they were going to be staying there and facing, for good or bad, the people who posed their views. >> woodruff: when the lady bird special arrived in

new orleans, l.b.j. was waiting and appeared the trip paid off. >> the lady bird special traveled across eight states only three of which johnson got in the landslide election. he was surprised he got florida and virginia. he also got north carolina, which he largely expected. but i think it was a successful journey because it showed the south that the president and first lady still cared about them. >> woodruff: with her husband by her said, lady bird told the crowd in new orleans i am aware there are those who would exploit the south's troubles to their own advantage, but i do not believe the majority of the south wants any part of the old business. >> ifill: again, the major developments of the day. the supreme court refused to take up gay marriage this term, rejecting appeals by five states. and president obama said the government may upgrade ebola

screening for airline passengers even as he played down chances for an outbreak inside the united states. on the newshour online right now, we have a report from el salvador, where a violence prevention program modeled after one begun in phoenix has succeeded in helping to curb the flow of child migrants crossing the border. and there's still more local authorities can do to prevent gang violence. read about that from our partners at fronteras on the rundown. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. and that's the newshour for tonight. on tuesday, what's that giant face on the mall in washington? we look at how one artist is using the national landmark as his own, temporary canvas. i'm gwen ifill, we'll see you on-line, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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this is "nightly business report" with tyler mathisen and susie gharib. brought in you in part by -- >> the street.com featuring stephanie link who features her market incites with action alerts plus. the multimillion dollar portfolio she manages with jim krae cramer. splitsville, hewlett-packard things two companies are better than one. but why is hp splitting now? and what do investors think of the move? >> taking the stand. paulson, geithner, bernanke, familiar faces from the financial crisis in court this week defending their actions in the bailout of aig. today it was former treasury secretary hank paulson's turn. >> turn of events. one of apple's suppliers surprised investors tmo